As we near the end of the first decade of the 21st century (!), it got us to thinking about all of great Senate races of the last ten years.
And, because we are obsessed with rankings -- the Georgetown Hoyas are number 13 (and rising) in the ESPN/USA Today poll thanks for asking -- came up with our list of the ten best races of the decade that was.

That's the voter registration advantage that Democrats (780,338) hold over Republicans (427,110) in Connecticut, a massive edge that makes Sen. Joe Lieberman's (I) announced opposition to a health care compromise all the more baffling from a political perspective.

Tennessee Rep. Bart Gordon will not seek re-election in 2010, according to a source familiar with his decision. Gordon is the fourth Democrat sitting in a swing district to retire in the last several weeks.

President Obama will sit down today with the chief executives of the nation's biggest banks -- see full list below -- to give them a bit of tough love. Asked what the president's message will be, one senior Administration official pointed to comments made by Larry Summers, the president's chief economic adviser, in an interview Sunday with ABC's George Stephanapoulos. The heads of the big banks "need to recognize that they've got obligations to the country after all that's been done for them, and there is a lot more they can do, and President Obama is going to be talking with them about what they can do to support enhanced lending to customers across the country," Summers said. He added: "We were there for them. And the banks need to do everything they can to be sure they're there for customers across this country." Remember that TARP -- the program that helped keep many of the nation's largest banks solvent -- is deeply unpopular with the American people who viewed it as an example of rewarding bad behavior. The president and his Administration know they must change the perception of TARP; they must show that the money given to banks came with string attached, strings that now require these financial institutions to do everything they can to help the average American. That's the symbolism meant to be sent in today's meeting.